Too many meetings, too little time: Evaluate the effectiveness of committees

A frequent complaint from medical staff members is that they have to attend too many meetings. None of us has time to do all the things that we would like to do. Attending meetings is usually not high on our list of things we look forward to doing.

Although many medical staff organizations have streamlined their committee structures, what I call "committee creep" continues to occur, even in the most vigilant, streamlined medical staff organizations. Committees sneak back into our organizations, sometimes as an "ad hoc" committee that somehow becomes permanent. Or there is a new regulatory requirement or an accreditation standard that seemingly requires a committee (it probably doesn't).

As medical staff organizations all over the country prepare to make committee assignments that take effect on January 1, I suggest that you thoroughly evaluate the effectiveness of your current committees. Perhaps you will find that your organization has committees that aren't fulfilling their purpose. Perhaps no one on some of your committees knows or understands the purpose!

To evaluate your current committees, you will need a tool that will be used to evaluate all committees. The tool can be used by every committee chair at an upcoming meeting of his or her committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the committee. Application of the tool should elicit some good discussion by committee members.

The tool should include analysis of the following major issues:

• Committee purpose. Is it written and understood by members of the committee?
• Committee members. Who are the members and what are the roles of the members?
• Minutes. Are minutes maintained? Where?
• Frequency of meetings. How often does the committee meet? Are meetings ever cancelled?
• Committee relationships. To what group does the committee report? How is feedback received? Is feedback ever received?
• Information flow. What type of information does the committee regularly receive and what does the committee do with the information?
• Regulatory requirements. Is this committee required? By what body? What will "they" be looking for in the minutes?
• Committee costs. What is the annual cost of having this committee?
• Key accomplishments. What were the committee's key accomplishments during the past 12 months? (If there weren't any key accomplishments, that should be something to consider.)

Medical staff organizations that use this type of tool to evaluate the effectiveness of their committees often find that they are having unnecessary meetings - and that committees are held that aren't required, do not have a clear mission and aren't well-attended.

Vicki Searcy, CPMSM

The Greeley Company